The present invention relates to device for collecting and discharging the splashed water thrown up by a vehicle wheel and, more particularly, to a device having a plurality of collection channels spaced apart side by side and which are held on the wheel arch of the vehicle in a position facing the tire tread.
German Offenlegungsschrift 39 22 715 shows collection channels extending in a direction of the width of the wheel arch, i.e. transversely to the direction of travel. Since the collection channels are inclined downwards in their longitudinal direction, the splashed water collected runs in the channels to the inside of the wheel arch, where it is received by an edge channel formed on the inside of the fender and discharged to the roadway.
For the splashed water thrown between neighboring collection channels to be able to pass into the collection channels, the water must be thrown into the collection channel opening almost exclusively by rebounding from a rebound wall. Since the drops of splashed water impinging on the rebound wall are broken up into smaller drops of splashed water by rebounding on the rebound wall, a considerable amount of these drops of splashed water is thrown back into the collection passage lying between the neighboring collection channels, so that the efficiency of the conventional device is considerably impaired.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a device for collecting and discharging the splashed water thrown up by a vehicle wheel, such that its efficiency in collecting the splashed water can be markedly improved.
The foregoing object has been achieved in accordance with the present invention by providing rebound walls associated with the collection channels and in the form of arcuately curved guide vanes. Through the formation of the rebound walls as guide vanes in accordance with the present invention, the major part of the drops of splashed water passing through the collection passage impinge at a flat angle on the associated guide vane, so that their direction of movement can be reversed by the sliding of the drops of splashed water along the guide vane.
A particularly problem-free transition between the guide vane and the associated collection channel is obtained if one edge side of the guide vane merges with a flush surface into a lateral boundary wall of the collection channel. In addition, the collection channel can in this case be fastened by the guide vanes.
In order to make possible inexpensive manufacture of the device, the collection channel may be formed integrally on the guide vane. If one-piece manufacture is effected by an extrusion process, the one-piece manufacture of the entire assembly of guide vanes and collection channels is also possible, in which case in the interest of advantageous consumption of material, the guide vanes may also have a semicircular cross-section.
In order to ensure that no drops of splashed water will be flushed out of the collection channels, even when the splashed water is thrown up at high speed, the collection channels advantageously have a V-shaped cross-section, while their freely projecting boundary wall is provided with a deflector edge by which splashed water flushed up on said boundary wall is deflected back into the wedge-shaped cross-section of the collection channel. It is advantageous for this deflector edge to be curved in the shape of a hook and to be formed integrally on the boundary wall of the collection channel.
For the purpose of enabling the device to be given a particularly advantageous overall height above the wheel, the collection channels extend parallel to the central longitudinal axis of the base vehicle while, viewed over their length, they are curved substantially concentrically to the rolling periphery of the wheel. In this situation, the curvature ensures an adequate downward incline of the collection channels to effect rapid discharge of the water.
The device of the present invention is preferably provided at its bottom end or at its bottom ends with a water chamber from which the splashed water can flow off to the roadway at the side of the wheel track.
In order to improve the absorptive capacity of the device in the region of greatest accumulation of splashed water behind the wheel, some or all of the deflector vanes may have one or more overflow openings passing through them to an outlet lying behind them. Through the action of these overflow openings, a part of the splashed water thrown into the guide vanes passes directly into the outlet duct. The deflection function of the deflector vanes must, however, be maintained, for which reason the overflow openings should preferably be in the form of narrow slots.
The outlet duct is advantageously in the form of a U-shaped tray-like member having a flat rectangular cross-section, in the bottom end region of which a water chamber having a lateral outlet opening is also integrated. The devices and the tray-like member may also expediently be combined to form a constructional unit, so that installation in the wheel arch entails the attachment of only one component.